On Wednesday Governor Scott Walker will deliver his annual State of the State address which would have likely been a pretty optimistic vision of the future even without the $900-plus Million budget surplus. What to do with the windfall is now likely to dominate the speech and Walker’s to-do list for the upcoming year. But today we join our colleagues at the Wisconsin State Journal, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Beloit Daily News and other editorial voices around the state in asking Governor Walker to include in his speech a bold request for legislative hearings on bills to reform Wisconsin’s redistricting process, making it cleaner, more responsible and fair.

This is not simply wishful thinking. While Walker has refused to meet with our editorial board, he has told the Journal Sentinel now is the time to discuss nonpartisan redistricting, told the State Journal he would probably support Iowa-style redistricting if the bill reached his desk, and told the Beloit Daily News he was not opposed to reform or hearings. Unless he was just blowing smoke Wednesday’s address seems like a great opportunity to back those statements up.

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